Yet another local school district opened an investigation into a potential threat of violence this week.
The School District of Webster (WI) announced late Thursday afternoon, March 1st, that some students had been having conversations about school violence. District Superintendent Jim Erickson said the district told what it could to parents at the time.
"Because it was late in the day we did not have enough time to fully explore it and we made the decision to make the call to all of our families to share what we could. We contacted the police department to help us to investigate it and we asked them to be present at school today," said Erickson.
Erickson also touched on the current climate surrounding school safety.
"Unfortunately, these are the times we live in. We take the safety of our students very seriously, and if that means we have to go through a few bumps in the road to keep them safe, then that is what we will do," he added.
The full release from Erickson is as follows:
"I would like to give you an update about what is going on at school. Late afternoon, yesterday we were made aware of some student's conversations about school violence. It set off a red flag for us. Because it was late in the day we did not have enough time to fully explore it and we made the decision to make the call to all of our families to share what we could. We contacted the police department to help us to investigate it and we asked them to be present at school today. I can tell you that we are confident we have a good handle on the situation and that we are resuming to a regular school day tomorrow. Because this deals with student confidentiality issues I am not at liberty to share much more but I can tell you that this will be addressed administratively along with the School Board. I'd like to thank all of you for your cooperation and your patience in this matter. Unfortunately, these are the times we live in. We take the safety of our students very seriously, and if that means we have to go through a few bumps in the road to keep them safe, then that is what we will do. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me or any of the building principals. We hope to see everyone at school tomorrow. Thank you."
The Webster School District is among multiple area schools that received substantiated or unsubstantiated threats in the last week, included North Branch, Cambridge-Isanti, and Pine City.
